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Kevin Durant is a superstar. He is a former MVP. He is a seven-time All-Star. He was selected to be part of the All-NBA First Team five times. He is a four-time scoring champion. He has led his (former) team to the NBA Finals once. Durant is a basketball stud. But apparently, according to him, he still has a lot learn about basketball.
Speaking to reporters before his debut as a Golden State Warrior, Durant said that there’s so much about basketball that he doesn’t know.
“There’s a lot I need to learn about the game of basketball,” he told The Mercury News. “I’m not as smart as I thought I was about the game.”
One of the things that he has to figure out, and eventually perfect, is moving without the ball. He said that when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he developed some bad habits, such as standing and waiting rather than moving around when he was off the ball.
“Just the standing,” Durant said. “When I’m off the ball, always cutting, always trying to free up my man, free up another guy to get a good shot for the offense. That’s something that’s very, very challenging, but it’s needed for me to be the complete basketball player that I want to be.”
He also talked about practices with the Warriors. Durant said that he’s never, in his entire career, experienced training camp like the one he just had with his new team. He said that the Warrior’s practices are really relaxed, but also really disciplined at the same time, and that he is really enjoying himself.
“I’m used to going into practice and having it a certain way,” he said. “These guys around here are super loose. But disciplined at the same time. It’s just a fun brand. They make basketball just even more fun than it was.”
Even with all his experience and knowledge about the game, Durant is still willing to learn new things and gain new skills to help out his team. I guess the old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is false in this case.
